County Seeks TAB Candidates

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

There have been no takers from Moapa Valley communities to serve on the area town advisory boards; at least up until now. Early this year the filing deadline came and went and no one applied to be included on the ballot for the positions in the upcoming election. That has left the selection process for both the Moapa Valley and Moapa Town Advisory Boards (TABs) in the hands of the Clark County Commissioners.

In an interview last week with the Progress, MVTAB chairman Gene Houston said that this lack of candidates is not because no one wants the positions. Rather it is because the board members and community residents have not been adequately informed of the filing deadlines.

“I know that the County told us that it had been publicly posted in the newspapers,” Houston said. “But that is easy to miss. I don’t think that they put it in the Progress and I read that all the time. Bu it’d be tougher to see if it just went in the RJ (Las Vegas Review Journal) or the (Las Vegas) Sun.”

“It would have been nice if county staff had just sent the board a quick message reminding us of the filing deadline,” Houston said. “I think then we would have had more people apply.”

Houston pointed out that the TAB positions are unpaid and are advisory spots. Election paperwork has to be filed in the county office in Las Vegas so it creates a minor inconvenience for potential candidates, he said.
“I guess it is not an excuse, but there is no real personal benefit to being on the board,” Houston said.

“We do it because we want to be involved in the community and we get a little say in what happens in our town. But it is not like the typical political campaign. So it is easy to lose track of filing deadlines and stuff.”

TAB candidates showing up on the November election ballots is a relatively new development in the state. A statute passed by the state legislature in 2015 mandated that elections be held for the TAB seats.

Before that time, TAB members were always appointed by the County Commission.
But candidate filing for the local TABs has been sparse ever since the law was passed. In 2016, only five people filed for the five Moapa Valley seats. This assured that all five would serve without holding an election. In Moapa that year, only four people filed. This left the board one person short and the Commissioners appointed the fifth member.

This year, with no one filing at all, the Commission will be appointing all the TAB seats.
Clark County is currently accepting applications from residents interested in serving on the local TABs over the next two years. Applicants must be eligible to vote, live within the area encompassed by the TAB and attend an annual training session.

The positions are held for a two-year term. The next term will begin on January 7, 2019.
Applications are due by 5 pm on November 13. The applications are available online at www.ClarkCountyNV.gov or they can be picked up and submitted at the Clark County Northeast Office at 320 N. Moapa Valley Blvd. in Overton.